Need advice on my new USA Fallout

The place to discuss, post photos, video, and audio of the G&L products (US instruments, stomp boxes, etc.) produced after 1991, including the amps & gear we use with them.
Dano
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Joined: Fri May 22, 2015 7:01 pm

Need advice on my new USA Fallout

Post by Dano »

Hey guys I'm new here. Proud owner of a transparent red USA fallout. It's a beautiful guitar and I fell in love with the moment I picked it up. I've got a problem and I'm wondering if I could garner some advice from people more knowledgeable than myself.

A few weeks ago I started noticing some fret buzz. The shop I bought the guitar at does free set-up for the first 90 days so I took it in. When I got it back the intonation was great but the buzz was still there. The buzz was so bad that a whole step bend on the 14th fret of the high e string would cause it to fret out. So I brought it back to the shop, they were totally cool. Their tech ended up having to mill the frets to get it set to even. They chalked it up to bad factory set-up. So not I take it home and the high e string issue is gone, but I'm getting crazy buzz on the low e string from 1st fret all the way up. (you can hear it through an amp). There are spots all over the neck where it's buzzing just a little bit.

What do you guys think of this issue? Did I just get a lemon neck? I've heard that the plek fret setup on USA made G&L's is bulletproof, but this buzz making me fall out of love with this guitar (heh, heh, fallout get it? Sorry...) I've tried adjusting my attack and finger placement. Both placement on the fret and the angle of my finger, it doesn't seem to be my playing. It's still under shop and manufacturer warranty, I've had it for just under 2 months. Is it worth getting this thing serviced till it plays right? Or should I talk them into replacing it? I'm out of my depth here.

Thanks for reading and for any advice in advance. Great guitar, love the look and versatility, now I just need to solve this neck issue.

Dano
BTW here's my guitar.
Image
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suave eddie
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Joined: Fri Feb 26, 2010 3:12 pm
Location: B.C.

Re: Need advice on my new USA Fallout

Post by suave eddie »

My initial suspicion is that the tech is not qualified to do a decent set up. If you trust him, you may want to give him one more chance to correct the deficiencies. If he is unable, then you may be forced to deal directly with G&L customer service. There is no reason you should have these issues on a brand new guitar.
Fumble fingers
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Joined: Fri Feb 15, 2013 12:11 pm
Location: Dayton , Ohio

Re: Need advice on my new USA Fallout

Post by Fumble fingers »

not a very good tech , that's what I was thinking too but was afraid to post it .....
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glvourot
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Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2010 11:15 am
Location: British Columbia

Re: Need advice on my new USA Fallout

Post by glvourot »

I concur with the previous two responses. It has been my experience that a lot of "techs" at some of these shops can barley change a set of strings. if his solution was to mill the frets, run I repeat run to someone who knows what they are doing.
Paul
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Philby
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Joined: Mon Sep 27, 2010 3:30 pm
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Re: Need advice on my new USA Fallout

Post by Philby »

I may be wrong, but filing down frets on a new Plek'd instrument seems like exactly the wrong place to start to cure fret buzz, I'd only do that if truss rod adjustment, nut height, saddle height and even neck shimming didn't cure it.

Your guitar tech doesn't sound very methodical. Hopefully he hasn't made a minor problem much worse.
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suave eddie
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Joined: Fri Feb 26, 2010 3:12 pm
Location: B.C.

Re: Need advice on my new USA Fallout

Post by suave eddie »

Just to clarify -- Was this guitar purchased new from an authorized G&L dealer?
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KenC
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Joined: Thu Feb 17, 2011 7:18 pm
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Re: Need advice on my new USA Fallout

Post by KenC »

Chiming in here with the same response as the others. I have owned a LOT of G&Ls, with the average age of mine being about 30 years old. I have brought some in with serious setup problems, and some that have been bargain-priced because of allegedly "bad" necks. None of them have required fret leveling.

If it was truly a fret problem, a G&L dealer should have worked with the factory to address it. That is part of the PLEK treatment you paid for. At this point I would be sure to keep all emails and document all conversations with the dealer or their "tech". I would probably skip the tech at this point, and deal directly with the store's owner to get it rectified.

I hope this all works out.

Ken